The 2019 Scottish Challenge Cup final, also known as the IRN-BRU Cup final for sponsorship reasons, was a football match that took place on 23 March 2019, between Ross County and

Connah's Quay Nomads Connah's Quay Nomads Football Club () is a Welsh professional association football, football club based in Connah's Quay, Flintshire. They play in the . The club was founded in 1946 as Connah's Quay Juniors and adopted the Connah's Quay Nomads ...

. It was the 28th final of the

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4&nbs ...

, and the sixth since the

SPFL The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) is the national men's association football league in Scotland. The league was formed in June 2013 following a merger between the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League. As well ...

was formed. Connah's Quay became the first club from outside Scotland to reach the final since the competition was first expanded to include guest teams from other countries in 2016–17.

Route to the final

The competition is a

knock-out tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

and was contested by 58 teams from Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in 2018–19. Two teams from the English

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

(fifth tier) were added to the competition in 2018–19, following the addition of teams from Wales and Northern Ireland in 2016–17 and the Republic of Ireland in 2017–18.

Ross County

Connah's Quay Nomads

As one of the guest teams from Wales, Connah's Quay Nomads received a bye to the second round. The choice of

Inverness Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...

as the venue for the final caused some controversy, with the

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally, ''upland'' refers to a range of hills, typically from up to , while ''highland'' is usually reserved for range ...

city being only from Ross County's home in

Dingwall Dingwall (, ) is a town and a royal burgh in the Highland (council area), Highland council area of Scotland. It has a population of 5,491. It was an east-coast harbour that now lies inland. Dingwall Castle was once the biggest castle north ...

but a distance of for Connah's Quay Nomads; previous finals had typically been held further south in Scotland's

Central Belt The Central Belt of Scotland is the Demographics of Scotland, area of highest population density within Scotland. Depending on the definition used, it has a population of between 2.4 and 4.2 million (the country's total was around 5.4 million in ...

Match details

References

Scottish Challenge Cup finals Scottish Challenge Cup Final 2019

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

Scottish Challenge Cup Final Connah's Quay Nomads F.C. Sport in Inverness Football in Highland (council area) {{Scotland-footy-competition-stub